Hanging By A Thread

Summary: It's a normal mission. Normal ruins. Nothing out of the ordinary. No enemies. Yet somehow, they always end up finding trouble! Luckily, they also end up finding something of interest.

Chapter 1

How odd.
Jack surveyed the landscape through his black sunglasses, and found
it interesting how they had left the mountains of Colorado (a.k.a.
Stargate Command) and stepped into– the mountains of Colorado.
Complete with brilliant red rock, cactus, and gnarly shrub-like
trees.

Daniel's
voice suddenly came from behind him. "Jack, I see some ruins over
there."

Jack
turned in the direction of Daniel's pointing finger. "Where?"

"There–
those red rocks."

Jack
squinted, then nodded wisely. "Ah yes. The other red rocks."

Without
looking he knew Daniel was giving him 'the look' from the corner
of his eyes. "There's a large pile of rocks, Jack. See? Now look
next to it."

"Oh–
you mean the red boulder!"

Daniel
rolled his eyes. "I'm going to check it out."

"Remember
to check in–"

Daniel
was already heading off, pulling out his notebook. "Every fifteen
minutes." He called over his shoulder.

Jack
watched him move away, and shook his head. How someone could get so
excited over old rocks– "Sam, you take your soil samples. Teal'c,
stay with her. I'll radio in every fifteen."

Sam
swung her bag from her shoulder as Teal'c nodded. "Yes, sir."

Sure
enough, there were crumbling ruins of some old buildings just to the
left of the pile of rocks, blending in so well with their
surroundings that Jack wondered how Daniel had seen them at all. He
found the archaeologist sitting at the base of a wall, one leg thrust
out, his hat pushed back. He was copying some painted drawings into
his notebook, mumbling to himself, his eyes scrunched up behind his
glasses in concentration. Daniel paid no attention when Jack
approached, or when he cleared his throat. Giving a resigned puff of
air that inflated his cheeks, Jack gave a final glance around before
finding a comfortable seat on a boulder, which happened to rest in
the shade of the wall.

How
long he sat there, watching Daniel copy the paintings with
painstaking accuracy, Jack didn't know. He had lost track after
checking in with Carter six times. Adjusting his sunglasses he
squinted up at the sun, then back at Daniel as he stood up with a
long-suffering sigh. "Daniel, how much longer?"

"Just
a little more." Daniel mumbled automatically.

Jack
took a step forward. "It's just thaa-Ahh!"

Daniel
spun around at Jack's outcry, the roar of crumbling rock pounding
in his ears. "Jack?" As the dust cleared Daniel's eyes
grew wide. Where Jack had stood there nothing. The ground had fallen
out, leaving a black gaping hole at least ten feet in diameter.
Crawling carefully to the edge Daniel looked down. "Jack?"

There
was cough. "Oh, for crying out loud."

Daniel
closed his eyes in relief, then looked back down. Jack was standing
up on a very narrow ledge, shaking dust off of his head, slapping it
from his jacket in red clouds. From the little bit of light that
filtered down it looked like he was in some kind of cave, but Daniel
couldn't be sure. "Where are you?"

Jack
pulled his broken sunglasses from his face and spun in a slow circle,
then looked over the ledge. "Looks like an underground chamber."
He called up. "There's paintings and word-pictures all over the
walls down there."

"Really?"
Daniel craned his neck, trying to see better.

"Hey!
Don't you fall in too!" Jack exclaimed.

"Do
you see a way out?"

Jack
spun in a half circle, stopping with his back to Daniel. "Uh,
yeah." He said. "But it's a long way down and been rocked in."

Daniel
frowned. "Rocked in?"

"Yeah.
Sealed. Barricaded. Filled with rocks."

"Why
would they do that?" Daniel wondered.

Jack
did a quarter turn, and stopped. "Maybe because of the coffins over
there." He quipped.

Daniel
nodded, then carefully moved away from the edge and headed to his
pack. Pulling out a long coil of rope, Daniel muttered a 'thank
you, Sam' to himself. Taking one end he gingerly made his way
around the hole to the other side and the boulder Jack had been
sitting on, where he looped the rope around the boulder several times
and tied it. "Okay, here it comes." he called, tossing the rope
down.

There
was a slight scuffling sound as Jack tied it around himself, then the
rope went taut. "Ready!"

Daniel
wrapped his hands around the thick fibrous cord, set his feet, and
pulled. It was easier than he had thought; then he realized that Jack
was helping by climbing some.

Then
the rope snapped.

Daniel
suddenly found himself being dragged forward, inexplicably, towards
the edge. Grasping at the rope with his hands his feet kicked
furiously, trying to find some purchase on the ground. Then they did,
and Daniel came to a crunching stop, but the rope kept going. He
tightened his hold, yelling when the rough, thick cords burned a line
across his shoulders and through his hands, tearing the skin. Then
it, too, stopped. Daniel didn't move, breathing hard, sweat beading
on his face, every muscle taut and shaking.

"Jack?"
he called tightly.

"Daniel?"
Jack's voice echoed its way up to him.

"Are
you okay?"

"Yeah."
Came the reply. "Sure. You betcha! You?"

"Oh–"
Daniel glanced around, heels digging into the ground. He locked his
knees. "You know." He tightened his hold, grimacing. Then he set
his feet, ready to move. "I'm going to get you up, okay?"

Daniel
rolled his eyes heavenward, a slight dry chuckle escaping him.
Carefully he pulled his feet up, drawing his knees closer and closer
to his torso. Then he dug his heels into the dirt and rock and
pushed. At first he didn't move. Then slowly, his hands burning,
Daniel slid backwards, scraping over loose dirt and rock. Teeth
bared, Daniel drew his knees up again, and again braced his feet and
pushed himself back. Dust clung to his damp skin, the sun beating
down harsh and bright. Very quickly his SGC uniform became
uncomfortably damp and scratchy with sweat. The burn of his shoulders
and hands became like a physical white noise, flaring every once in a
while as the rough fibers of the rope rubbed.

"Hey!
Hey!"

Daniel
paused mid-push, legs trembling. "What?"

"Can
we hurry it up? The rope's leaving a blister 'round my middle."

Licking
sweat from his upper lip, Daniel gritted his teeth, eyes rolling up
in a quick prayer. Taking a deep breath he tightened his grip on the
rope, and once again dug his heels into the dirt. After what seemed
to be an eternity of pushing himself back, the rope, slick in his
hands with sweat and some blood, suddenly slipped. There was a
startled shout below the edge, and Daniel desperately grabbed,
clenching his teeth with a bit back grunt when the rope burned
through his hands and then caught. For a moment there was nothing; no
movement, no sound, except for the harsh panting of two men.

"Jack?
You okay?"

There
was a grunt. "Yeah. Little banged up, nothing serious."

Daniel
nodded. "Sorry about that."

"It's
okay. Just be nice if we didn't have a repeat performance." There
was a pause. "You okay?"

Daniel
hesitated. "Yeah," he finally answered. "Why?"

"Well,
your voice sounds a little strained. You sure you're okay?"

Daniel
ground his teeth, dug his heels in, and pushed back.

"Daniel?"

"Yes,
Jack!" Daniel gasped in exasperation, a little harsher than he
intended. He closed his eyes for a moment. "Just– let me get you
up, okay, Jack?"

"Sure."
There was a wry, disbelieving tone to Jack's voice, and Daniel knew
that Jack would be thoroughly checking him over when this was over.

Blinking
furiously as sweat suddenly trickled into his eye, Daniel ignored the
sting and focused on pushing himself backwards. He wished he could
take off his jacket; the heat was almost overpowering. The minutes
strung together, slipping by in a dust and sunlit haze. Suddenly the
rope became slack in his hands. Blindly panicking for a moment,
thinking that the rope had snapped and Jack had fallen, he grabbed at
it. Then he heard the grunts and muttering ahead of him. Blinking to
clear his vision Daniel squinted, and saw Jack in the last stage of
hauling himself over the edge and onto solid ground.

"Jack?"
Daniel pushed himself to his knees and started to crawl, stopping
with a grimace when his hands made contact with the rough ground. He
lifted his left hand, looking at its torn and bleeding palm in
disgust.

"Holy
Hannah!" Jack crawled over to him and took his hand. "What…?"
he looked up, eyeing the rope with the frayed end, and the separate
piece of rope still tied around the boulder. "Dang it, Danny." He
muttered. "Come on."

"Jack,
I'm fine." Daniel protested as Jack grabbed him under the arm and
hauled him up, guiding him back to the painted wall. At Jack's
pointed finger he sat down obediently, and watched as Jack pulled
open his pack and rummaged through it, trying to find the first aid
kit amongst his books and notes.

"Aha!"
Jack exclaimed triumphantly, pulling out the kit. He quickly opened
it and pulled out the disinfectant wipes, tearing them open. Daniel
looked away when Jack took one of his hands, biting his lip when the
cold wipe slid across his palm. "Next time," Jack advised. "Wear
gloves."

"I'll
remember that." Daniel hissed.

A
few minutes later, with his hands freshly wrapped, Daniel followed
Jack away from the ruins with the promise that they would return to
excavate the site properly.

On
the way back they ran into Sam and Teal'c, who were making their
way up toward the ruins. "Colonel!" Sam called.

Giuliana Cassetta:
My face is full of tears, I never cried like now with a book or even a movie. I loved every single chapter. I truly don't know what to say, I'm out of words and my eyes hurt from crying. Such an bittersweet story, it's so wonderful. One of my favorites for sure. Keep it up!

Sara Grover:
Being that this is your first story and I assume first draft, a lot of little mistakes are common, we all have made them; little things like your instead of you're, missed capitalization, missing punctuation, etc. As for the plot, I have a lot of questions and I did leave comments on certain sect...

littlebunnypoopoos:
Omg this was so amazing! The ending was a little bad and predictable. But otherwise, I need a second book or I'll die :D The character development was excellent and the whole romance, action, and suspense was superb

aoifecollopy22:
I loved how the author had the conflict come back later in the story. Also how they passed time without going over anything. That really helped move the story along. This kept my up for a few hours. YOU SHOULD READ THIS

Sara Grover:
When I first started reading, it was a bit slow; though only because it was so information intense and fast-paced in trying to describe how this complex galactic corporation/government like entity controls known space. I would suggest maybe adding a preface to better educate the reader to help av...

Flik:
Hi! ^.^ huge fan of yours on ff.net! When I saw the note about this contest on The Way We Smile, I couldn't help but rush over here, create an account, and vote! XD Seriously love this story and would recommend it to anyone! :D best FT fanfiction out there. Amazing story, amazing concept that wa...

genlynne2379:
I read the other review of this book and I must say that I disagree with it wholeheartedly. I do not believe the author put the apostrophes in the names just to be unique, but because the characters are supposedly of a different race than humans. They are Anmah. They should have different names a...

ArgyrisMetaxas:
Thrilling story which builds layer ontop of layer. A few mis spellings every few chapters. What I found special was that it took a modern day problem and took it to its logical conclusion and plays this realism with gritting precision. I'm always on edge ready to shout from adrenaline. This is gr...

sujitha nair:
What's so distinct about this story was that it could easily be real. Praveena can be your classmate, neighbor or that girl you saw at the coffee shop today. The important decisions she makes and the dilemmas she faces, remind us of our own twisted lives.

re8622:
The Last Exodus quickly grabbed my attention. Almost as soon as I started reading the story, I couldn't put it down. I found that the ideas the author put forth were very thought provoking given the turmoil we have seen gradually rise over the last several years. I felt that I could understand th...

Lydia Walters:
I really enjoyed this novel. It gives us a view of what could be if we really tried.Also that there's nothing wrong with loving our LORD and our fellow humans. couldn't wait to get to each new chapter (mission). Thanks, Joe!

ElusiveBadwolf:
I loved this book so much! It's a shame that i already came to the end of this. I really enjoyed the story, and i liked it how everything became in the end. It was a great book and i can say that you are a great writer too. Keep it that way and i think you can make it in the writing business!

Cassie Jacobson:
So many twists and turns. Keeps you wanting to read to see what happens next. The main character is detailed well. The struggles and growth of Joby makes you admire her. It gives you a proud satisfied feeling while reading it. A refreshing difference then most books out there today, and in a w...

Tavis Ryan King:
"What Happened to Charlie Carmine" is a fabulous mo-gee-toe cocktail fuelled midget orgy of psychology, fantasy and sarcasm. I laughed out loud when reading this novel so many times it made the London commuters I shared space with look at me with curious disdain - and I did not care.The protagoni...

JWalker:
I loved this story from start to finish! It flows at a really nice pace and the story world feels so real. The fight sequences are a treat especially when Isanfyre is training to become a warrior. I found the names really cool and thankfully easy to pronounce. Personally I have always struggled w...

Other Collections

About Us:

Inkitt is the world’s first reader-powered book publisher, offering an online community for talented authors and book lovers. Write captivating stories, read enchanting novels, and we’ll publish the books you love the most based on crowd wisdom.